MOSES LAKE — Alex Reister spent all day in the boat, but it was worth it.

“We went when it was still dark out,” Alex said, and they fished all day. Alex caught two fish, in fact – a 20-pound salmon, and toward the end of the day, a 40-pound fish, 43 inches long.

Nor was that all. “I drove the boat,” Alex said. And while everybody else was celebrating Alex's big fish, Alex himself still really wanted to drive the boat, said his guide Josh Artzer.

“And that's all I can think of,” Alex said to a bystander who asked him about his trip. Well, there was one more thing he wanted to say after he received his trophy. "Thank you for donating for other kids."

Alex was one of the 16 children and teens who went fishing and hunting in 2017 through the Youth Outdoors Unlimited program. The annual Moses Lake YOU banquet was Saturday night.

The group started in 2011 and provides fishing and hunting trips for children with life-threatening (or debilitating) illnesses or physical disabilities. The kids and their families usually get to go camping along with the fishing and hunting, with campfires and camp food – because neither hunting nor fishing is a sure thing.

Landowners donate the use of their property and guides donate their services. Outfitters donate equipment. If a kid gets an animal or catches a fish, professionals donate the meat processing. Taxidermists donate their time to mount the trophy.

The banquet traditionally is the place where the kids receive their trophies. Alex was one of two kids to receive his trophy Saturday. The organization has grown to the point where it will have five fundraising banquets statewide, said YOU founder Cindy Carpenter, along with other fundraisers including a clay pigeon shoot and an archery tournament.

Riley Northrup received his deer trophy Saturday night. Riley's illness meant he couldn't use a rifle, so he used a crossbow. A crossbow requires a good aim. “You have to have the sights lined up with the front (sight),” he said, and he had to wait until the deer was alone, no deer in front or behind. But he's a good shot – he brought the deer down with one arrow. “It was a heart shot,” he said.

Landowner Andy Hover heard about YOU through a friend, and Riley hunted on his property near Winthrop. “Very fun,” he said. “I got to take a kid out hunting,” and give a kid a chance to do something he might not have been able to do otherwise. This was the first time Hover hosted a YOU event but it won't be the last, he said. “We're going to have it be a ongoing thing.”

“For me, it really makes fishing fun again,” Artzer said. This was his first YOU fishing trip, but there will be more. Being out on the river with Alex is a way to put things in perspective, he said. “They (the kids) teach us so much.”

Carpenter said it wouldn't happen without YOU supporters, whether it's people who donate money, time or their skills. “It's such a generous community,” she said of Moses Lake.

The next YOU fundraising banquet is scheduled for March 24 at the Mirabeau Park Hotel in Spokane.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at [email protected].